President Zardari meets PM Shehbaz in Lahore as new-provinces debate continues

LAHORE: President Asif Ali Zardari met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the prime minister’s Model Town residence in Lahore on Saturday, for detailed talks on the country’s political, economic and security situation. The prime minister welcomed the president warmly on his arrival, the Prime Minister’s Office said, and the two leaders agreed to keep working together to speed up economic stability and development.

The Turkiye briefing and COP31
The prime minister briefed the president on his recent visit to Turkiye, where he attended the 31st Conference of the Parties and spoke about Pakistan’s efforts on climate action. The meeting was also attended by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, the prime minister’s adviser on political affairs Rana Sanaullah, former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Senator Saleem Mandviwala and MNA Hamza Shehbaz.

The new-provinces debate in the background
The meeting came as debate over the creation of new provinces has flared up again. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has proposed putting the question to a referendum, an idea that has found support among some PML-N leaders, while Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan has raised the constitutional question of whether elected representatives could override the people’s verdict in a referendum. Two days earlier, Naqvi had called on the president in Nawabshah; after media reports claimed the two had discussed new provinces, the President House clarified that no such discussion had taken place and that only national security and the regional situation were discussed. President Zardari, who is in Lahore with his sister Faryal Talpur mainly to attend a family wedding, last met the prime minister in a publicly reported meeting on Oct 10 — a day before the federal government imposed emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.